Fan blogs
Around the Wicket - Volumne 1
Well, it looks like the IPL is here to stay. I’m wary of it for the time being, but after the first week of action – I’m a fan.First – the good. The atmosphere provided by Indian cricket fans is unlike that of any other sporting contest in the world. They are passionate, they are excitable, and they are loud. The noise throughout the stadium as Brendan McCullum smacked balls out of the park in game 1 was tremendous. I don’t recall seeing a crowd at a sporting event so excited. Definitely not a cricket crowd anyway.
The IPL is definitely fan friendly, and they’re getting passionate fans to the games. Let’s hope that trend continues.
There are however, a couple of things which stood out to me during the first week of competition which just screamed “Unprofessional!” The first was the state of the Eden Gardens pitch for the Deccan Chargers vs Kolkata Knight Riders game. (By the way, is the Knight Riders’ mascot a black talking car? When will David Hasselhoff be selected?)
The pitch was terrible. It was two paced, and a dust bowl. Surely with so much money involved in the IPL – there would be enough cash left over to ensure decent centre wickets? You simply can not have a game based around batsmen going bananas, played on a sub standard cricket pitch.
It ruins the game, and therefore it ruins the spectacle.
The second little drama was from the same game. The lights went out just as the visiting team looked to be getting on top. Dear IPL – the world is watching, and non-cricket fans are tuning in, perhaps for the first time. Don’t give them a reason to bad mouth the game of cricket. Already I’ve heard talk that the lights were switched off intentionally by the locals, to ensure their team could gain back some momentum.
Personally, I don’t give that sort of talk any credibility, but the fact is that people are bringing it up. All that does is make the IPL, and cricket, look bad to people who may be tuning in to a game of cricket for the first time. That’s not the image we want them to have.
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Dave do you think this IPL will last? I can't see it not with the money they are throwing at it.
It's been good to see how the players adjust when they are out of their chummy chum national teams.
Prowler - I think we'll see A LOT of different changes to the IPL format over this "teething" period. They're already giving away tickets, which isn't a good sign. T20 would be best in a smaller capacity venue. Telstra Dome in Melbourne for example.
Sutherland Spy - I've been interested to watch the Australian players dealing with one another. Remember how Hayden and McGrath had a spat in the old Australia vs Australia A days? Mind you - that had nothing on Sreesanth v Harbhajan.